Marquee tool! Makes it easy to get precise automation on a dime, similar to highlighting and dragging automation selections in Ableton.
Try volume automation first before compression.
Hearing words like “never” with regard to music production is a red flag in our opinion. Innovation comes from experimentation, and when it comes to making music, if it sounds good then the approach is good. It’s really that fundamentally simple!
Modern music production and most DAWs these days have afforded the ability to leverage a variety of mastering tools into the creation/mixing process. For an experienced producer, using these tools can not only get you a powerful mix, but they can also diminish the potential value from formal mastering treatment.
Specifically with regards to electronic music production, the mixing process is so integral to achieving a strong finished product, it can even influence decisions made at the inception of the track.
As a result, it’s up to the producer how much “mastering” they want to tackle within producing or mixing their track.
If you want stability, sometimes it has a cost my friend.
We had a similar issue and ended up with this card: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0892VBP7P
Works flawlessly!
Tough to pick one favorite. We absolutely love Dave Smith Instruments - PolyEvolver! It has a very unique sound.
“Best sounding” is going to be quite subjective. Favorite would be a bit easier to answer.
It’s great! Also recommend IK Multimedia’s Syntronik.
Sad reality when it comes to opening and closing acts in the club scene: the night is not about you.
The promoter looks out at the crowd and if the venue is full he/she really only attributes this to the headliner(s). Yes, some promoters care to track tickets sold with a promo code, but it’s just a little extra to them.
You just don’t really have a lot of leverage if you’re opening/closing, and this situation is a good example of it.
Co-headlining is a different story, and you would be much less likely to have to deal with antics like this.
Thanks! As you mention we didn’t mean it as any self promotion; just happened to be the very reason we have DJs in our group name. Glad you feel it’s good advice! All the best :)
This is actually a big part of our group history. We are called “Greenhaven DJs” because we met in a neighborhood called Greenhaven, as young teenagers. We had a strong passion for electronic dance music and wanted to learn how to produce, but had limited knowledge. Before diving into producing, we agreed it was important to first turn our focus to DJing. It was through DJing we began our own musical education, learning about dance music history, song structure and ultimately sculpting our tastes, which ended up developing into something remarkably distinct. We continue to learn and refine our tastes, which guide all our decisions in music production. We believe crafting thoughtful DJ sets is a great way to discover and inspire what you want to contribute.
Of course!
It’s more about how you use it, than what you use.
Yes, we tried this with our Virus C; it doesn’t have all waveforms and effects the TI does. They absolutely sound different. The midi signals are pretty much the same, so you can use most any Virus as a controller for the TI.
As we mentioned, the Virus A factory banks seem to be unique. Haven’t been able to find them or even a preset list anywhere.
u/cunterpunch is spot on, but this also applies to samples from sample packs that are already professionally treated. If you low cut or shelf everything, you are chiseling away the integrity of the sound and imparting the colour of the EQ on the sound. You have to be careful because you can quickly end up with a thin and artificial sound. Sometimes this is desired/appropriate in a busy mix, but you should not blindly cut things.
- Dave Smith Instruments - PolyEvolver
- Yamaha - CS80
- Access - Virus TI Snow
- Alesis - Andromeda A6
- Moog - Voyager
- Roland - JP80x0
- Clavia - Nord Lead 3
- Sequential Circuits - Prophet 5
- Roland - Juno 106
- Roland - MKS-80 (Super Jupiter)
There is no best DAW, and it shouldn’t be a religious thing. It’s important to become proficient in at least one DAW and that takes a time investment. Try as many as you can. Then once you are proficient, don’t stop there; it’s just about learning how to do the same thing in another DAW and that shouldn’t take long (especially if you’re truly proficient in one). We work a lot in audio, which makes things easy to move between DAWs.
Each DAW has its strengths and offers native tools with distinct textures and certain features which might be a bit better (to us) or just different than other DAWs.
Like why buy a synth if you have one that offers the same features? It’s because of the unique result you get, that is only available from that synth. Serum has the same features as the Moog Voyager, but even when dialling in the same settings, it sounds nothing like it. So we treat any given DAW like a synth and recognize and leverage select native features, effects or plugins that we like from one DAW versus another.
Again, from a broad feature perspective most DAWs seem equivalent, but once you get into the nuances of those features/instruments/plugins, they are not the same DAW to DAW. For example, Logic, Bitwig, Reason and most every DAW will have audio time stretch algorithms. Ableton’s time stretch algorithms sound the best to us for a variety of use cases. Logic has certain features like their distortion and tape delay which have unique results which can’t really be replicated in other DAWs. We could go on and on..
We’ve also experienced that compared with VST emulations, the actual hardware (specifically analog synths) often sound fuller and more natural. Interestingly Dave Smith mentioned in past interviews, that if you put a digital source through an analog hardware filter it sounds analog, which we’ve also found to be true.
Yes! It’s all about relaxing or changing your focus. A great way to get into a passive listening experience is to do some cardio while you listen to music. For us it provides an easy way to get a refreshing change in perspective.
If the mix is excellent is mastering necessary? We would say no. Modern music production integrates the ability to leverage a variety of mastering tools into the creation/mixing process. For an experienced producer, using these tools not only gets you a satisfactory mix, but is diminishing the potential value from formal mastering treatment.
If the mix is excellent is mastering necessary? We would say no. Modern music production integrates the ability to leverage a variety of mastering tools into the creation/mixing process. For an experienced producer, using these tools not only gets you a satisfactory mix, but is diminishing the potential value from formal mastering treatment.
Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II
What is the greatest hip-hop song you've ever heard?
hiphop101